THE OPEN ZONE - Model of a Responsive City

07.01.2011

THE OPEN ZONE - Model of a Responsive City

FlattrOffice_Linus OlssonCC_BY_NC_SA
FlattrOffice_Linus OlssonCC_BY_NC_SA

The Open Zone is a networked experiment with different social territories that, for the duration of transmediale.11, are occupied by artists and media activists. The strategic requirements of Open Culture are examined and can be experienced by visitors in open studios, project labs, exchange centres and experimental spaces located in the Foyer of the HKW.

The festival theme RESPONSE:ABILITY is also a reflection of the Internet as an increasingly political sphere. Our entire repertoire of digital action – online-profiles, shopping, exchange and networking – is socio-politically ever more relevant and leaves traces in the real world. The Internet has become a strategic action zone, one that demands evermore composure from the statusupdaters and prosumers of the Web 2.0 era.

 

While artists, activists and entrepreneurs seem to embrace this new terrain with visionary experimentation, governments and copyright owners however see the Internet as a problematic zone. They respond with the same urge for privatisation and normalisation we already know from the realm of urban regulations. The Open Web, originally the system norm, is becoming more and more a competitive resource.

 

The Open Zone is thus a networked experiment with different social territories that, for the duration of transmediale.11, are occupied by artists and media activists. We focus on the split second between “Stand by” and “On” – the moment where a person decides to act and a passive system becomes active. The strategic requirements of Open Culture are examined and can be experienced by visitors in open studios, project labs, exchange centres and experimental spaces located in the foyer of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

 

This model of a responsive city reflects the human capacity to deal with the overwhelming flow of events responsibly acting in a self-determined way. For a free digital culture that is shaped by us all, these are the basic requirements.


The network is here and now, it is ‘live’. Others have built it for us – now we have to configure it.

 

Ela Kagel, Programme Curator, The Open Zone

 

 

The Open Zone is made up of eight different workstations and the Open Web Award area in the foyer of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures). These are rounded out, in addition, by a total of three Talk Sessions with a wide spectrum of workshops and presentations (also on a theoretical level) in the Open Zone. An overview of the whole programme follows:
 

 

LOST IN THE OPEN? – Navigating the Open Web & Free Culture

Here, the working and living conditions of so-called Open Culture are examined by means of projects and initiatives that change daily.

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RESPONSE: ACTIVITIES – Strategies of Political Participation

The Internet has evolved from the carefree online playground of the nineties to become a contested area of social and political action. In accordance with the festival theme, RESPONSE:ABILITY, a broad range of political activities is examined in this workstation.

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THE CURRENCY OF THE COMMONS The Price and Value of Free Culture

In this workstation, temporary shops are opened and short-term value transfer systems are presented in the form of alternative banks. For the duration of the festival, visitors can, in this part of the Open Zone, meet media activists and see visions of an alternative economy successfully implemented.

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IDENTITY BUREAU by & with Heath Bunting

At transmediale.11 Heath will set up an Identity Bureau where he will sell the off-the-shelf natural persons he has created, he will also advise on how to use or make one's own Identity.

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The Wanted and For Sale Office by & with kom.post collective

The Wanted and For Sale Office run by the kom.post collective is a place where visitors are asked what they have to give and what they want. With the Office becoming a living artwork by each participating individual, each request and offer is displayed in the Office so that exchange partners can be found.

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interACTicons by & with Ursula Endlicher

What if Kafka's Internet suddenly came true and text were suddenly undecipherable as too many algorithms cancel out each other’s choice of uncensored words and all online communication were limited to emoticons?
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OPEN DESIGN CITY ‘Make your Own Market’ by & with Jay Cousins and Chris Doering, with Galia Offri, Mushon Zer-Aviv & Friedrich Kirschner as guests

The Open Design City in Berlin is a collaboration space that establishes Open Design principles derived from the Free Software and Open Source movements.

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Immediated Autodocumentary with Gabriel Shalom and Patrizia Kommerell

During the transmediale.11 festival, KS12 are making a video about the future of art. Festival visitors, artists and speakers are invited to contribute their opinions, critiques and visions. 

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The Open Web Award Area

In this area the 3 nominated works for the Open Web Award 2011 are presented:
· thimbl by Dmytri Kleiner
· Booki by Adam Hyde, Douglas Bagnall & Aleksandar Erkalovic
· Graffiti Markup Language by Evan Roth

 


The three Open Zone Focus-Sessions

Lost in The Open? Navigating the Open Web & Free Culture

Panel Talk with Mushon Zer-Aviv, Galia Offri, Henrik Moltke, Simona Levi, Andrea Goetzke
2 Feb, 11:00 – 13:00 K1
 

Response:Activities Strategies of Political Participation
Panel Talk with Marek Tuszynski, Allen Gunn, Michelle Thorne, Heath Bunting, Sami Ben Gharbia
4 Feb, 11:00 - 13:00 K1
 

The Currency of the Commons – The Price and Value of Free Culture
Panel Talk with Peter Sunde, Elizabeth Stark, Dmytri Kleiner, Eric Pöttschacher, Christopher “moot” Poole
 5 Feb, 15:00 – 17:00 K1

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